Chapter 3 Courts

In principle, a district court (for all offenses except for the offense of insurrection and those subject to a penalty of a fine or less) or a summary court (for offenses subject to a penalty of a fine or less, offenses for which a fine is an optional statutory penalty or certain predesignated offenses including habitual gambling) is designated as a court of first instance for a criminal case.

Trials in courts of first instance are held in public. Where a defendant is found guilty, subject to the statutory penalty provided for the offense, the possible punishments include the following: death penalty, imprisonment with/without work, fine, penal detention, or petty fine. Summary courts do not have jurisdiction to impose a punishment more severe than imprisonment without work, except with respect to certain predesignated offenses, such as theft, for which the court may impose a sentence of imprisonment with work for not more than three years.

Where the sentence is imprisonment with or without work for not more than three years or a fine of not more than 500,000 yen, the execution of the sentence can be fully or partially suspended (suspension of execution of sentence), and where it is deemed necessary, the offender may be placed under probationary supervision during the period of suspension.

Summary courts may order the imposition of a fine or a petty fine of not more than one million yen based on the examination of evidentiary documents (summary proceeding). Those subjected to a summary order may request a formal trial, and thereafter, the case will be tried in a public trial.

The defendant and public prosecutor may appeal the judgment of the court of first instance to the high court, and subsequently, to the Supreme Court.